“BE YOURSELF” (the Creation of a Music Composition)

An artistic workmanship is a creative work process of an artist in creating artworks. Artwork meant by the writer is "Be Yourself", which is related to the establishment of his self-characters that grown up in Sundanese culture. Life journey was a dynamic process and became the will of the Almighty. God's destiny and life journey made the writer as “urangsumando” (people related by marriage) in Minangkabau. Cross-cultural was a life journey to be (yourself) and the destiny he should do – being in two different culture positions. Such differences did not automatically make the writer soluble in integration – he existed in two conceptions. In the realization, how the concepts are able to deliver other offers which have contribution to the development of artistic creation. The discussion in this article is the artistic forms as the exploration, working material, and forms of performance

SurF: an innovative framework in biosecurity and animal health surveillance evaluation

Surveillance for biosecurity hazards is being conducted by the New Zealand Competent Authority, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to support New Zealand's biosecurity system. Surveillance evaluation should be an integral part of the surveillance life cycle, as it provides a means to identify and correct problems and to sustain and enhance the existing strengths of a surveillance system. The surveillance evaluation Framework (SurF) presented here was developed to provide a generic framework within which the MPI biosecurity surveillance portfolio, and all of its components, can be consistently assessed. SurF is an innovative, cross‐sectoral effort that aims to provide a common umbrella for surveillance evaluation in the animal, plant, environment and aquatic sectors. It supports the conduct of the following four distinct components of an evaluation project: (i) motivation for the evaluation, (ii) scope of the evaluation, (iii) evaluation design and implementation and (iv) reporting and communication of evaluation outputs. Case studies, prepared by MPI subject matter experts, are included in the framework to guide users in their assessment. Three case studies were used in the development of SurF in order to assure practical utility and to confirm usability of SurF across all included sectors. It is anticipated that the structured approach and information provided by SurF will not only be of benefit to MPI but also to other New Zealand stakeholders. Although SurF was developed for internal use by MPI, it could be applied to any surveillance system in New Zealand or elsewhere

Is Heteropolymer Freezing Well Described by the Random Energy Model?

It is widely held that the Random Energy Model (REM) describes the freezing transition of a variety of types of heteropolymers. We demonstrate that the hallmark property of REM, statistical independence of the energies of states over disorder, is violated in different ways for models commonly employed in heteropolymer freezing studies. The implications for proteins are also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figures To appear in Physical Review Letters, May 199

Manuscrits lul·lians de la Biblioteca de Catalunya. I

We have studied the correlates of cell death during stalk cell differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum. Our main findings are four. (i) There is a gradual increase in the number of cells with exposed phosphatidyl serine residues, an indicator of membrane asymmetry loss and increased permeability. Only presumptive stalk cells show this change in membrane asymmetry. Cells also show an increase in cell membrane permeability under conditions of calcium-induced stalk cell differentiation in cell monolayers. (ii) There is a gradual fall in mitochondrial membrane potential during development, again restricted to the presumptive stalk cells. (iii) The fraction of cells showing caspase-3 activity increases as development proceeds and then declines in the terminally differentiated fruiting body. (iv) There is no internucleosomal cleavage of DNA, or DNA fragmentation, in D. discoideum nor is there any calcium- and magnesium-dependent endonucleolytic activity in nuclear extracts from various developmental stages. However, nuclear condensation and peripheralization does occur in stalk cells. Thus, cell death in D. discoideum shows some, but not all, features of apoptotic cell death as recognized in other multicellular systems. These findings argue against the emergence of a single mechanism of 'programmed cell death (PCD)' before multicellularity arose during evolution

Observation of semiannual and annual oscillation in equatorial middle atmospheric long term temperature pattern

Extensive measurement of middle atmospheric temperature with the help of lidar data of more than 10 years (1998–2008) and TIMED/SABER data of 7 years (2002–2008), has been carried out from a low latitude station, Gadanki, India (13.5° N, 79.2° E), which exhibits the presence of semiannual oscillation (SAO) and annual oscillation (AnO). The AnO component is stronger in the mesospheric region (80–90 km) and the SAO is dominant at stratospheric altitudes (30–50 km). Overall, the AnO possesses higher amplitude ~6–7 K, and the SAO shows less amplitude ~1–2 K. The AnO present at 90 km finds crest near summer solstice, and the same at 80 km shows peak near winter solstice with a downward progression speed ~1.7 km/month. The SAO propagates downward with an average phase speed ~9 km/month and phase maximizes around equinox and solstice at 50 and 30 km, respectively. The observed SAO has also shown seasonal asymmetry in peaks

Country-wide extension of integrated crop management of chickpea in Nepal

This paper discusses lessons that have been learned both from discussions at the present meeting and those distilled from experiences of project partners during the collaborative activities of NARC, ICRISAT and NRI under the Crop Protection Programme's (DFID) project to rehabilitate chickpea in Nepal (DFID R7885). Chickpea is a crop that can compete with alternatives; it is highly profitable when grown with appropriate technology and improves livelihoods for poor farmers. Markets per se are not a limiting step for the nationwide expansion of improved chickpea production in Nepal (most chickpea consumed in Nepal is still imported), but aspects of marketing are, and need addressing to ensure trouble free expansion of chickpea production. Aspects of infrastructure also need addressing, especially the connectivity between research and extension organizations in Nepal, to enable joined-up extension services and technology support. Seed storage has too low a priority for both farmers and extension services and needs greater focus. Pesticide quality and insecticide resistance need monitoring and infrastructure and policy/legislation to support biological alternatives such as NPV needs attention. Farmers' past experiences with particular management tools (eg, familiarity with insecticides from vegetable p r o d u c t i o n ) often coincided with success, and finally skills of diagnosis and timing for applications of technology needs particular attention across all farmers. Because chickpea is self-fertilizing, farmers can produce and maintain their own seed stock negating the long-term role of seed production enterprises in up-scaling. The project also encouraged low cost inputs, which are less financially rewarding for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs). There is, however, always a need for technology inputs and seed provision for new farmers so there is still a role for the private sector. Self-help groups increasingly need to take on the role of seed producers. Agriculture holds a position of low priority in popular media such as newspapers and television, so alternatives need to be exploited to ensure widespread knowledge dissemination